Re: David, b. 4-10-1770
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In reply to:
David, b. 4-10-1770
Duane Boggs 2/13/09
David Ramsey's birth on April 10, 1770 also comes from another source, which appears reliable. This source is a book entitled "Pioneers of Sand Plains in San Joaquin County, California, by Henrietta Reynolds (privately published 1953). The book is located in the University of the Pacific Library, Stockton, California. The Library had stamped the book (on the date it was catalogued??) with the date of June 15, 1966. Henrietta Reynolds identified herself as the granddaughter of James and Martha (“Patsy”) (Ramsey) Reynolds and the great-granddaughter of David Ramsey. Ms. Reynolds was a member of “The Ladies’ Auxiliary to California Pioneers”, an organization that was apparently dedicated to preserving the history and genealogy of California pioneers. From the 79 pages of the book, it is clear that Ms. Reynolds assembled family stories but supplemented them with information from such primary records as family Bibles, and also did research in government records. Her research was active as early as 1928 (and possibly well before, as she was born about 1868 and knew her paternal grandmother personally, because Martha (Ramsey) Reynolds lived until 1899). The following are verbatim excerpts relevant to this David Ramsey (a/k/a Ramsay).
Page 3: “War records of 1812 of [great-grandfather] David Ramsey, show that . . . . . [he] served in the War of 1812 as a private in Captain George Stockton, Jr.’s. Company of Mounted Riflemen in Colonel Richard M. Johnson’s Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers Militia. His service began September 5 and ended October 12, 1812.2
2 War Department, Washington, D.C., March 18, 1931.”
Pages 7-8: “James Reynolds and Martha Ramsey were married September 7, 1826 at her home near Flemingsburg, Fleming Co., Kentucky, where she was born February 6, 1804. (From the flyleaf of her father’s Bible I made the following copy – ‘This Bible is the property of David Ramsey of Fleming County and State of Kentucky, October 3rd, 1802.’ Records given are: Jane Ramsey—born January 1, 1762. Archibald Ramsey—born October 3, 1766. Robert Ramsay – born November 22, 1768. David Ramsay – born April 10, 1770.’
“The above Bible does not give place of birth. The family records are ‘David Ramsay & wife Polly’. Old Bible records seldom gave the wife’s maiden name. Other members of the family spelled their name Ramsey, as my grandmother did—e instead of a. The above Bible is owned by Mrs. Maud Cox Ramsay of Minneola, Kansas. I visited there in July 1931 and saw the Bible. I have my grandmother, Martha Ramsey Reynold’s old family Bible – date 1767, given her by her mother, when a small girl.
“Births: Elizabeth Wills – November 1, 1772. Mary Wills – December 1, 1775. Andrew Wills – April 13, 1778. Janette Wills – November 18, 1770.
“This Bible was given me by Uncle Eldridge Reynolds. The above Bible, 1767 and the Reynolds Family Bible, 1823, given me by Aunt Ambagette Reynolds are in the Pioneer Museum, Victory Park, Stockton, California, where I intend to place this ‘Reynolds Family History.’ I have been told grandmother Martha Ramsay Reynolds’ mother was called Polly, so I think her maiden name could have been Polly Wills.
“The Ramseys came from Scotland to Virginia, down to South Carolina and then to Kentucky. Later on they settled in Park [sic] Co., Indiana. Few came west but a number of visits were made to California.”
Page 9: “Martha’s mother died when she was twelve years old, leaving a family of six, three girls and three boys. Martha, with her father and oldest brother, raised the family. The youngest girl, when learning to walk, fell in the open fireplace. No stoves in this days [sic], all the cooking being done in the fireplace. The little girl was terribly burned and was left a cripple. She died when eighteen years old. When she was a little girl, she wandered into the woods and was lost for two days and a night. People for miles around, about a hundred in all, soldiers among them, who were stationed at various points on account of the Indians, turned out to hunt for her. They found her later the second day asleep under a tree about three miles from home.”
Page 10: “Grandfather James [Reynolds] had made an extra trip earlier [than 1837], down to Park [sic] Co., Indiana where the Ramseys of Kentucky had settled and while there, grandfather had helped with the finishing of the Seceder Church, the first church in this locality, started in 1828. He helped to build the first benches, all handmade from split logs with pegs for legs. His name is on the church list and he was a charter member. His father-in-law, David Ramsey was also a charter member and served on the first building committee ‘Pioneers of Indiana.’”
Page 10-11: “A close relative is buried in Seceder Cemetery –David A. Ramsay, Co. B, 4th Regimental Indiana Volunteers. Taken from my great-grandfather Ramsay’s head-stone, in old Seceder Cemetery near Portland Mills, Indiana: ‘David Ramsay – Died February 7, 1844, Aged 74 years, 9 months.”
Page 13: “One of the items left to grandma [Martha (Ramsey) Reynolds] in her father’s will [i.e., the will of David Ramsay] (dated January 18, 1844) was a gray mare named ‘Chickasaw’. . . . .
“David Ramsay, Sr., her father, died in Park [sic] Co., Indiana, February 7, 1844. I have a copy of ‘David Ramsay, Sr’s., will, certified and duly proven by Samuel R. Hamilton, one of the witnesses thereto.’”
END OF QUOTES.
Henrietta Reynolds made a couple of mistakes. The wife of David Ramsey was not "Polly" but Rosannah Wills, as shown by marriage records from Fleming County, KY. It seems likely that, after Rosannah's death, possibly about 1817, her older sister Mary (Wills) Ramsey, the widow of David's older brother, Alexander Ramsey (1754-1807), helped David rear the children, and thus was remembered, incorrectly, as David's wife. Also, Henrietta did not know that her ancestors had come to Pennsylvania and then Kentucky (NOT Virginia and South Carolina).
It is worth noting that calculations based on the tombstone information Henrietta reported would result in David's birth between April 7 and May 7, 1769 (as compared to the Bible entry of April 10, 1770). I would suggest that whoever purchased the tombstone and instructed the stonecarver about dates miscalculated David's age by one year, and that he actually died at the age of 73 years and nine months. A similar mistake was made by the survivors of Mary (Wills) Ramsay, widow of Alexander, who died in 1847. Someone told the stonecarver she had been born in 1777 (no month or day, suggesting a lack of precise knowledge) when the Bible record shows she was born December 1, 1775, and so was about a year older than her surviving children thought.
Based on this information from Henrietta Reynolds and other evidence of close dealings between Alexander and David Ramsey, I believe that Alexander (b. 1754), Jane (b. 1762), Archibald (b. 1766), Robert (b. 1768) and David (b. 1770) were all siblings, children of the David Ramsey who appeared in the 1790 census for Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
If you can add to this, please contact me at [email protected]